Ready to Walk the Dinosaur again?

Eighties funksters Was (Not Was) are back. It's been 20 years since their biggest hit -- 1988's "Walk the Dinosaur (video)" -- but Don and David Was are plotting a return to the music biz.

The Detroit-based act has a new album -- "Boo!" -- set for release on April 8. The band, which also includes Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowens, performed the new material during a Valentine's Day show in Los Angeles (with Kris Kristofferson and Brian Wilson) and has their eyes set on SXSW in Austin.

Though the band stopped touring and recording in 1992, the Was brothers have kept themselves busy. Don Was did producing work for artists including Bonnie Raitt, the B-52s and Elton John. David went to Hollywood and produced movie and TV soundtracks.

What are their prospects for a total rebound? Pretty good, if you read between the lines of the LA Times review of their February show. "It was chaos. Good chaos," Ann Powers wrote. "The kind that happens in that mythical Detroit, the one Was (Not Was) still brings to town."

About this blog

Relive the '80s music, movies and culture with Tampa Bay Times correspondent Steve Spears. A teen during the greatest decade ever, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to big hair.